When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing. save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Geopolitics

New Garment Factory Fire In Bangladesh Kills Eight As Death Toll From Factory Collapse Rises To 912

BBC (UK), AFP

Worldcrunch

DHAKA ­­ – A new fire in a garment factory in Bangladesh has killed eight people including the factory’s managing director and a police officer.

The fire broke out overnight in a clothes factory in the capital Dhaka, racing through first three floors of the 11-story building. The factory’s 300 workers had gone home for the day.

“It was a big fire but we managed to confine it,” Mahbubur Rahman, operations director of Bangladesh’s fire service told the AFP . “The victims died from the “toxic smoke from burnt acrylic clothing,” he said.

The death toll from last month’s Rana Plaza building collapse is now up to 912 people, officials announced on Thursday. About 2,500 people were injured in the collapse.

After a spate of recent tragedies, the government announced on Wednesday it was shutting down 18 garment factories for safety reasons, reports the BBC .

"We have seen that those who claim to be the best compliant factories in Bangladesh have not fully abided by building regulations," said Abdul Latif Siddique, the Bangladeshi textile minister.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Economy

How A Xi Jinping Dinner In San Francisco May Have Sealed Mastercard's Arrival In China

The credit giant becomes only the second player after American Express to be allowed to set up a bank card-clearing RMB operation in mainland China.

Mastercard has just been granted a bank card clearing license in China.

Liu Qianshan

-Analysis-

It appears that one of the biggest beneficiaries from Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to San Francisco was Mastercard.

The U.S. credit card giant has since secured eagerly anticipated approval to expand in China's massive financial sector, having finally obtained long sought approval from China's central bank and financial regulatory authorities to initiate a bank card business in China through its joint venture with its new Chinese partner.

For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here .

Through a joint venture in China between Mastercard and China's NetsUnion Clearing Corporation, dubbed Mastercard NUCC, it has officially entered mainland China as an RMB currency clearing organization. It's only the second foreign business of its kind to do so following American Express in 2020.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the development is linked to Chinese President Xi Jinping's meeting on Nov. 15 with U.S. President Joe Biden in San Francisco, part of a two-day visit that also included dinner that Xi had with U.S. business executives.

Keep reading... Show less

The latest